PAUL THE PREACHER 



JOHN L.ROSSER 




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Book JLi_ 



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Paul The Preacher 



JOHN L. ROSSER, A.B., Th.M. 




AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 

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Copyright, 191 6, by 
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To 

My Wife, Evelyn 



FOREWORD. 

The author's justification for this work is a 
conviction that there is an open place for such 
a volume. Though Paul was first of all a 
preacher, the scattered material dealing with 
thehomiletical phase of his life is soon exhausted. 
The table of contents clearly reveals the plan 
of the book. A sharp distinction has not in 
every place been observed between the man and 
the minister, nor has it been deemed necessary 
to use at all the apostle's earlier name Saul. 

The quotations, with one exception, have 
been made from the American Standard Re- 
vised Bible. In most instances the proof-texts 
could have been largely increased, but the book 
is not intended mainly as a collation of Scrip- 
tures. 

The author believes the present generation of 
preachers and Christian workers can learn much 
from the Master's greatest preacher, and cher- 
ishes the hope that this small volume may direct 
renewed attention to the homiletical aspect of 
Paul's many-sided life. The author is of course 
indebted to his reading in Pauline literature, but 
a bibliography would be so general in character 
as not to be of great value. 

J. L. R. 

Bristol, Virginia. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I. 
PAUL'S PREPARATION BEFORE CONVERSION ... 3 

CHAPTER II. 

PAUL'S PREPARATION BY AND AFTER CONVER- 
SION 19 

CHAPTER III. 
PAUL'S INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES 31 

CHAPTER IV. 
PAUL'S EMOTIONAL QUALITIES 45 

CHAPTER V. 

PAUL'S VOLITIONAL LIFE 55 

CHAPTER VI. 

PAUL'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 69 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAUL'S MESSAGE 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 
PAUL'S FIELDS OF LABOR 99 



CHAPTER I. 
PREPARATION BEFORE CONVERSION. 



CHAPTER I. 

PREPARATION BEFORE CONVERSION. 

The career of the Apostle Paul as a preacher 
can be understood only by taking into account 
the main elements of his preparation. The 
factors to be considered in this chapter are 
his gifts by nature and acquirements through 
education. 

I. 

I. When Paul says that God separated him 
even from his mother's womb unto a special 
mission, he recognizes his natural endowments 
as part of his preparation for his career. His 
physical qualifications for the work of the 
ministry deserve some notice. The passage of 
Scripture usually accepted as decisive of Paul's 
personal appearance is the statement of his 
enemies in the church at Corinth: "For his 
2 cor. io:io. letters, they say, are weighty and strong, but 
his bodily presence is weak." But when the 
words are considered in the light of the context, 
one becomes sure that Paul's personal appear- 
ance was not in the minds of his critics at all. 
The contrast is between the threatening tone 
of his letters and his mild behavior when present. 

3 



4 PAUL THE PREACHER 

That Paul so understood the criticism seems 
clear from his answer in the next verse: "Let 
such a one reckon this, that, what we are in 
word by letters when we are absent, such are we 
in deed when we are present." The contrast 2Cor% 10:11# 
in his answer is between "word" and "deed," 
not word and appearance. Out of the tumult 
that arose over healing the cripple at Lystra, 
we get a suggestion that Paul was of small 
stature. The amazed pagans "called Barnabas, 
Jupiter; and Paul, Mercury, because he was the Acts 14: 12 . 
chief speaker." The names respectively ap- 
plied to the apostles were based on an idea 
deeply embedded in the religion of the people of 
Asia Minor. They thought of the supreme 
deity as sitting apart from the world, and ex- 
pressing his will through a messenger or sub- 
ordinate god. Jupiter was at that time the 
supreme deity of that section of the world, and 
Mercury was the servant of the gods, and also 
the god of eloquence. Our impressions of Bar- 
nabas are that he was of placid temperament 
and dignified manner. Thus seeing Paul be- 
side the "more statuesque figure" of his com- 
panion, and acting as the chief speaker, the 
conclusion that he was the servant of Jupiter 
was natural. 

There is extant an incomplete romance en- 
titled Acts of Paul. This work was composed 



PAUL THE PREACHER 5 

by an Asian presbyter about the middle of the 
second century. Sir William Ramsay thinks it 
embodies a tradition brought forward from the 
first century. In an episode there dealing with 
Paul and Thekla, the former is described as a 
"man small in size, bald, bow-legged, sturdy, 
with eyebrows meeting, nose prominent." The 
description was most probably based on local 
memories, and reasoning from the character of 
the composition, we judge that such a descrip- 
tion would not have been given unless the facts 
required it. 

Paul has also considerable place in early art. 
Representations appear on the gilded glasses 
and sepulchral slabs of the catacombs, on the 
sarcophagi, and the mosaics of the basilicas. 
There is a prevailing type. The apostle is 
represented as short in stature, a little bowed, 
with bald forehead, beard long and pointed, face 
oval, nose long and straight, countenance strong 
and delicate. 

Our survey thus leads to the conclusion that 
Paul was lacking in the commanding appearance 
of the conventional orator. 

2. Paul had qualities of great physical en- 
durance. The bare record of his activities in 
travelling, preaching, writing, and working for 
self-support is alone convincing as to that fact. 
His were crowded years. A vision of many 



6 PAUL THE PREACHER 

miles travelled and vast work done rises before 

the mind out of the single statement: "From 

Jerusalem, and round about even to Illyricum, 

I have fully preached the gospel of Christ/' and Rom. is: 19. 

that summary is only partial. "Working night 

and day, that we might not burden any of you, 

1 Thess. 2: 9. 

we preached unto you the gospel of God." Acts 20: 34. 
Many similar passages occur. The cruelties 
suffered at the hands of enemies drew heavily 
upon his physical energies. It is to be remem- 
bered that the Ion? catalogue of shameful treat- 

ill!- 1 ° 1 1 1 1 * Cor - 11:23 " 

ments and hardships which he has set down **. 

includes only what had befallen him in the first 

half of his career. Yet he lived to become phiiemon9. 

"Paul the aged." He had the will, and in spite 

of his sensitive and high-strung organization, 

the capacity to endure hardness as a good 

soldier of Jesus Christ. 

3. "It would appear," says Dr. James 
Stalker, "that he lacked the rotund voice." The 
finest vocal gifts are not always characteristic 
of men with the keen, analytic, philosophical, 
system-building intellect. But Paul's ability 
to engage attention and, under normal cir- 
cumstances, to hold the attention of any audi- 
ence is decisive against a severely unfavorable 
judgment as to his vocal equipment. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 7 

II. 

It would be logical to consider next Paul's 
natural mental endowments, but as the char- 
acter of his gifts in that sphere will be illustrated 
in another part of this volume, it would involve 
repetition to discuss them at this point. We 
pass to the consideration of his preparation 
through the education he received. 

1. The Jewish contribution to Paul's educa- 
tion is primary both in time and importance. 
This began at home. His parents were Phari- 
sees, strict constructionists of Judaism, sleep- 
less guardians of the inherited faith. They 
regarded themselves as "intrusted with the 
oracles of God," certainly for their own house- 
hold, and under solemn obligations to observe 
the Mosaic rule for training children. At three 
years of age Scripture verses, benedictions, and 
wise sayings were given to be memorized. At 
five years the Hebrew Bible was taken up, com- 
mencing with Leviticus. When about six 
years old the boy was sent to a school attached 
to the synagogue and conducted by a Rabbi. 
The Scriptures were the text-book, and judging 
from his quotation of the Septuagint in after- 
years, even where it diverges from the Hebrew, 
it seems clear that the Greek translation was 
used. That period of study in his native city 



8 PAUL THE PREACHER 

was of great importance in Paul's educational 
development. The years covered correspond 
to the junior period in our modern Sunday 
schools, and verbal memory is then at its height. 
The facility with which he in later years sup- 
ported his positions by quotation of, and allu- 
sion to, the Old Testament must be attributed 
in no small measure to the knowledge gained in 
that time. When he afterwards wrote "that 
from a babe thou hast known the sacred writ- 
ings" he was recording his own as well as 
Timothy's experience. 2 Tim. s: 15. 

Manual labor was, in theory at least, highly 
honored by the Jews. Among the noted Rabbis 
was found every variety of trade. So accord- 
ing to Jewish custom that every boy have a Actsi8:s. 
trade, Paul was taught tent-making. This in- 
dustrial feature of his education was of double 
value. It created sympathy with common life. 
The day was coming when he would need to 
know the point of view of the artisans as well 
as that of the scholars of the world. His prac- 
tice of self-support at times was an effective 
answer to those "false apostles, deceitful 
workers," who charged him with preaching the 
gospel for gain. 1 cor. 9: 12. 

2. Paul was designed for a Rabbi. So at 
twelve or thirteen years of age, he was sent to 
Jerusalem, to continue his studies under the 



PAUL THE PREACHER 9 

great teachers in the Scribal College, located 
within the Temple precincts, probably in the 
synagogue of the Temple. The material of in- 
struction here was the Hebrew Scriptures, sup- 
plemented by numerous commentaries. The 
teacher occupied a slightly raised dais, the 
students sitting around in a circle on the floor. 
The periods of instruction were enlivened by 
the custom of allowing the students to ask 
questions, a method much practiced in modern 
classes. 

It was one of Paul's cherished privileges and 
memories that he had been taught by the 
learned and revered Gamaliel, "a doctor of the 
law, had in honor of all the people." "I am a 
Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up 
in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel." This 
teacher was the most distinguished representa- 
tive of the school of Hillel, which was far more 
popular, liberal, and influential than the school 
of Schammai. The influence of such a per- 
sonality upon so receptive a student as Paul 
was profound and permanent. Dr. Howson 
states the effects as most probably three-fold: 
candor and honesty of judgment, a willingness 
to study and make use of Greek authors, and a 
keen and watchful enthusiasm for the Jewish 
law. If this is a true estimate, a little rift had 
been made through which Paul might innocently 



to PAUL THE PREACHER 

glimpse some values outside of the peculiar 
privileges of his race. Seeds of principle and 
disposition were implanted which flowered later 
into the greatest value to him as the Apostle to 
the Gentiles. Perhaps there is an echo of the 
satisfactory progress of the Jerusalem days in 
his later statement: "I advanced in the Jews' 
religion beyond many of mine own age among 
my countrymen." Gai. i: u. 

III. 

In its derivation the word education means 
"to draw out." So whatever works to that end 
has a right to be reckoned as an educational 
agency. There were some factors contributing 
to Paul's mental life that can be characterized 
neither as Jewish nor Gentile, yet were signifi- 
cant in his preparation to preach. 

I. Observation contributes to one's educa- 
tion. Eye-gate admits more visitors into the 
chambers of the mind than ear-gate. The 
natural scenery in and around Tarsus was 
mingled of the gentle and the grand. Plain and 
river, sea, hill and mountain were features of the 
outlook; but judging from the use made of 
acquired material, external nature gave no large 
contribution to Paul's mental stores. His 
references are usually brief, his only elaborate 
illustration from nature being the grafting proc- Bom. 11:24. 



PAUL THE PREACHER u 

ess, which has been adduced as proof that Paul 
was inaccurate in observation of nature. The 
charge is unjust. He says it is "contrary to 
nature," nor was the illustration intended to 
apply in all particulars. Paul had a poetic side 
to his personality, but he had little of a poet's 
quiet delight in the operations of the natural 
world. He was not charmed and exalted by its 
manifestations. He was not primarily of that 
brooding temperament which feels that 

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 
There is a rapture on the lonely shore, 
There is society where none intrudes 
By the deep sea, and music in its roar." 

Of Paul's observation of human activities 
there is more to say. Tarsus had a large popu- 
lation, and was queen of the Cilician plain. The 
future apostle often looked upon busy scenes 
along the lake-harbor, the Cydnus, and other 
places in the city. The multitude that lived 
in and visited Tarsus, with their varied activi- 
ties, characters, and temperaments, did not 
escape Paul's alert mind. Impressions as to the 
crude and cultured were ripened by reflection 
into a wisdom that, in later years, revealed itself 
in a tact and an adaptability to all people un- 
equaled by any other worker in the kingdom. 

Tarsus had its Greek games on the banks of 



12 PAUL THE PREACHER 

the Cydnus, and the frequency and accuracy 

with which Paul refers to almost every feature of 

these sports indicate that, strict Pharisee though 

he was, he was allowed to attend. "Even so 

run; that ye may attain. And every man that 

striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in 

all things. ... I therefore so run, as not un- m „ 

. 1 Cor * 9: 24< 

certainly." Heroic qualities were in evidence, 26. 

and the strenuous energies seen in action were 

to one of Paul's nature a stimulant. 

2. A quick intelligence absorbs many ideas. 
By reason of the location, history, politics, and 
mixed population of the city, the atmosphere of 
Tarsus was impregnated with certain distinct 
conditions. There was a spirit of city pride. 
It was a Greek rather than a Semitic idea, and 
due to the fact that Tarsus was largely Hel- 
lenized, and also to the inheritance of a record 
of noble achievements by which her ancient 
citizens had laid the foundations of the city's 
greatness. Paul had absorbed the sentiment, 
and there is a subdued note of pride in his words 
to the chief captain in Jerusalem: "I am a Jew, 
of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city." Acts 21:39. 

Through the gigantic barrier of the Taurus 
mountains runs a famous pass known as the 
Cilician Gates, though the Gates proper are a 
narrow gorge towards the southern end. With 
this thoroughfare was connected much inspiring 



PAUL THE PREACHER 13 

local and general history. At an unrecorded 
date the Tarsians, surmounting stupendous 
obstacles, had built a wagon road from their 
city to the entrance of the Gates. The way 
itself was historic ground; mighty conquerors 
had often marched their armies through the 
pass. The stirring events associated with it 
were common tradition in Tarsus. 

Paul was by nature " battle-mooded " ; and 
such stern history inevitably made its appeal to 
his imagination, and helped to create and de- 
velop the heroic spirit so notably characteristic 
of the man. His native city was part of the 
Roman Empire, and Paul himself "a Roman 
born." The fact of the Empire was in the air 
as something vast and admirable in its physical 
proportions. The mind rises to a broader hori- 
zon in the contemplation of anything immense. 
As a Roman citizen, conscious of a membership 
in a world-wide system of law and order which 
overrode local and racial differences, he could 
realize the idea of a universal religious franchise, 
with a law and order of its own. However 
greatly Paul abhorred most of the features of 
its life, the very presence of the imperial system 
was an educative means by process of absorp- 
tion, affording a vast concept which he was later 
to fill with an evangelical content. 



14 PAUL THE PREACHER 

IV. 

1. It is reasonable to believe that Paul re- 
turned to his native city, when he had completed 
his studies in Jerusalem; and it is generally 
agreed that during the years between his return 
and his conversion he learned much in the be- 
liefs and habits of the Gentiles. Our opinion is 
that he formally studied Greek philosophy. He 
had a naturally broad and inquiring mind. He 
now had the example of his famous teacher 
Gamaliel, who is known to have been friendly 
to Greek learning. Great freedom character- 
ized the life of the University of Tarsus. 
Teachers were free to lecture and students to 
attend at will. Ideas that appear in Paul's 
later thinking are characteristically Greek. 
The sentiment of city pride has been referred to. 
To the Greek "his city, not his country as a 
whole, was his 'fatherland,'" says Dr. Ramsay. 
The Hebrew system was oracular, not rationalis- 
tic at all; but Paul's view of things is philo- 
sophic, which is a Greek quality of mind. 
Stoical terms and ideas are traceable in the 
apostle's writings. The University of Tarsus 
was noted for its emphasis on philosophy of the 
Stoic type* 

2. If the Greek qualities observable in Paul 
are not thought to have required formal instruc- 



PAUL THE PREACHER 15 

tion, one may, in a way, account for them on 
another theory. Great freedom was granted 
to independent teachers. "A lecturer/' says 
Dr. Ramsay, "was permitted to enter any city 
as a wandering scholar, and might begin pub- 
licly to dispute and to lecture, if he could at- 
tract an audience." Paul may have often stood 
before such a teacher, and his ready intellect 
gathered up ideas that appealed to him, or 
terms which he afterwards used as vessels for 
the truths of revelation. But on the whole the 
Hellenic quality in his thinking is too ingrained 
and the point of view too fundamental to be 
accounted for adequately on so slender a basis. 
Minds, like the dyer's hand, are subdued only 
to what they work in. 



CHAPTER II. 

PREPARATION BY AND AFTER 
CONVERSION. 



CHAPTER II. 

PREPARATION BY AND AFTER CONVERSION. 

Paul's preparation to preach, by nature and 
education, contained no Christian elements, 
and from the human point of view had no 
reference to the Christian ministry. But the 
facts to be set forth in this chapter are related 
to that vocation. 

I. 

The supreme epoch of Paul's life was his con- 
version. It was the dividing ridge between his 
old and his new experiences. If the word 
"consciously" be omitted, his conversion an- 
swers well to Professor William James' descrip- 
tion of that change as a process "by which a self 
hitherto divided and consciously wrong, in- 
ferior and unhappy, becomes unified and con- 
sciously right, superior and happy." 

i. His conversion made him a Christian both 
in belief and spiritual experience. Whether or 
not Paul had personal knowledge of Jesus before 
this date, we are not informed; but what he 
thought of the Nazarene's claims is evidenced by 
his behavior towards the disciples: "Beyond 

19 



20 PAUL THE PREACHER 

measure I persecuted the church of God, and Acts 26: 11. 
made havoc of it." But the vision on the Da- Acts26:19 - 
mascus road reversed his conviction as to the 
person of Jesus. He saw the risen Lord. He 
passed out of the twilight shadows of Judaism 
into the clear morning of the new truth. 
"Though we have known Christ after the flesh, 
yet now we know him so no more." He was 2Cor. 5:i6. 
convinced that the historical Jesus was the prom- 
ised Messiah; for "straightway in the syna- 
gogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the 
Son of God . . . proving that this is the Acts 9:20, 22. 
Christ." And over the sunny field of that faith 
no cloud of doubt ever drifted. Absolute men- 
tal acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah was basic 
in Paul's preparation for preaching the gospel. 
And Paul was also inwardly changed. He was 
regenerated as well as convinced. He describes 
the inner phase of his conversion as a birth, al- 
though abortive. "Last of all, as to the child icor. 15:8. 
untimely born, he appeared to me also." What 
Jesus had called a new birth Paul calls a new 
creation. He is generalizing his own experience 
in declaring that "if any man is in Christ, he 
is a new creature." He was created anew in 2Cor 5:17# 
Christ Jesus. God had revealed his Son in 
Paul as well as to him. Gal# 1: 16# 

2. A revolutionary change had been wrought 
in Paul, but carnal ordinances had no part in the Acts 22:16. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 21 

transaction. His sins were washed away, the 
Holy Spirit had been received, and he had been 
appointed a minister and witness for Christ. 
He thus found the problem of his acceptance 
with God solved on another principle. He 
learned that righteousness was not to be at- 
tained by obedience to manifold moral and 
ceremonial precepts; but "him who knew no 
sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we 
might become the righteousness of God in him." 
"How quickly or how slowly these elements of 
the Christian salvation were clearly and fully 
disclosed to him," says Dr. A. E. Garvie, "we 
cannot discover; but all were implicit in his 
conversion." 

The central truth to the propagation of which 
Paul devoted the rest of his life was that "Christ 
is the end of the law unto righteousness to every 
one that believeth." The grace wherein he 
now stood was by faith in the Messiah who had 
appeared to him in the way. He had the 
principle and it was grounded in personal 
experience. "It is impossible to escape the 
conclusion," to quote from Dr. Garvie again, 
"that the significance and the value of the 
Cross became clear to him almost simultane- 
ously with the certainty of the resurrection and 
of the Messiahship of Jesus." Later reflection 
brought out many details, but the germ of Paul's 



22 PAUL THE PREACHER 

favorite doctrine of justification by faith was 
revealed to him in his conversion. 

3. Paul's tremendous conversion gave him 
unreserved confidence in the saving power of 
Christ. His own case was his norm-illustra- 
tion: "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Tim. 1.15. 
He regarded himself as an object lesson in grace, 
a strategic example in vindication of the efficacy 
of the gospel: "I obtained mercy, that in me as 
chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his long- 
suffering, for an example of them that should 
thereafter believe on him unto eternal life." iTim. i:i6. 
His testimony in this matter is laid upon the 
background of those days when he was a 
"blasphemer and a persecutor." At times he iTim. i:is. 
vindicates himself upon the ground of con- 
scientiousness, but a deeper look soon hurries 
him into thoughts of shame and regret. As 
later he reflects upon his own conversion, it was 
an easy inference, that "whosoever shall call R m. 10:1s. 
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." 
Out of experience Paul was able to declare that 
the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation 
to every one that believeth." The mode of his Rom . i:«. 
conversion, when generalized, led logically to 
the confidence that where sin abounded grace 
through faith would more exceedingly abound. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 23 

II. 

Not every educated and truly converted man 
is prepared to preach. "I hold with profound 
conviction," says Dr. J. H. Jowett, "that before 
a man selects the Christian ministry as his 
vocation he must have the assurance that the 
selection is imperatively constrained by the 
eternal God." That is a true saying. 

1. Paul's Jewish learning prepared him to 
believe in a direct call to the ministry. The 
stories of Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and other 
prophets were familiar historical illustrations 

jer. 23: 2i. of the principle. And instances of false prophets 
would come readily to mind. What the author 
of Hebrews says as to the high priest's office 
Paul fully accepted: "No man taketh the honor 

Heb. 5:4. unto himself, but when he is called of God." 

2. Nothing is clearer from the New Testa- 
ment records than that Paul did receive a divine 
call to the ministry. He heard the call first 
from the lips of Jesus himself: "And the Lord 
said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But 
arise, and stand upon thy feet; for to this end 
have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a 

Acts 26: is, 16. minister and a witness." After the three days 
of fasting and blindness in Damascus, and under 
calmer circumstances, the call was repeated by 
Jesus through Ananias who said to Paul: "The 



24 PAUL THE PREACHER 

God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know 

his will and . . . thou shalt be a witness 

for him unto all men of what thou hast seen and Acts 22: 14,15 

heard." And in his own writings he constantly 

asserts the divine origin of his call. "Paul, a 

servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, Rom. i: 1. 

separated unto the gospel of God." "Paul, 

called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through 1 cor. 1: 1. 

the will of God." " I was appointed a preacher, 

and an apostle." 2 Tim. i: 11. 

Paul thought always of his ministry as a gift 
of grace. "I was made a minister, according 
to the gift of that grace of God which was given 
unto me according to the working of his power. 
Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, 
was this grace given to preach unto the Gentiles 
the unsearchable riches of Christ." And Paul's Eph. 3:7,8. 
conception of his office was magnified when he 
later realized that his ministry had been allowed 
for in the divine scheme: "God, who separated 
me, even from my mother's womb, and called 
me through his grace." He was not an inci- Gai. i:». 
dental conscript, substituted at the eleventh 
hour for some one who, like Judas, had fallen 
away; but his life was a factor included in God's 
original plan for getting the gospel preached in 
the world. Thus was Paul prepared to preach 
by a personal call into the ministry. He had 
seen his burning bush; he knew the voice heard 



PAUL THE PREACHER 25 

therefrom was Jehovah's; and henceforth he 
walked on holy ground. 

III. 

Another factor in Paul's preparation to preach 
was added when he was given a message. We 
are not concerned at this point to analyze his 
gospel, nor to attempt to date his reception of 
it; but only to note that he proclaimed a 
divinely revealed message. To think that he 
was deluded in the matter creates a greater 
problem than it solves. "Let a man so account 
of us as . . . stewards of the mysteries of God," 
who "committed unto us the word of reconcilia- 
tion." A steward is manager of affairs com- 
mitted to him. "I delivered unto you first of 
all that which I received." In his letter to the 
Galatians, Paul, for obvious reasons, states 
directly how he came into possession of the word 
of truth: "For I make known to you, brethren, 
as touching. the gospel which was preached by 
me, that it is not after man. For neither did I 
receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it 
came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ." 
Thus the already enlisted soldier of the Cross 
was given his weapon: "the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God." 



26 PAUL THE PREACHER 



IV. 

Paul's ministry at Damascus, following his 
baptism and reception by the disciples there. Acts 9: 20-22. 
though powerful, was at most incidental. So 
we pass that by to note his retirement into 
Arabia. Place must be allowed in Acts for the 
additional information in Galatians: "I went o a i. 1:17. 
away into Arabia." How far he went, who 
went with him, and who visited him, are profit- 
less questions. There was danger in his re- 
maining in Damascus, and this was a minor 
cause of his leaving. But that does not alter Acts 9: 23, 25 
the fact, that this season of retirement was a 
significant providential feature of Paul's prepa- 
ration for his career. 

1. There was personal need for a season of 
meditation. Paul needed to win his own soul. 
He had been violently wrested from his ancient 
standing, turned suddenly right about face. 
"Believing all things which are according to the 
law, and which are written in the prophets," and Acts 24: u. 
also Gamaliel's theology, neither could he doubt 
his recent vision and experience. But the new 
and the old did not harmonize. Counter cur- 
rents were running in his understanding. 
Surely God was "dispensationally consistent." 
The fresh knowledge must flow with the truth 
already revealed. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 27 

2. Paul had a call to preach to the heathen 
world. It may be doubted nevertheless whether 
he felt free to offer the gospel to the Gentiles, 
apart from Jewish ceremonies. The manner 
of his own conversion generalized led to faith as 
the universally valid method of salvation; but 
it is not easy for a strong nature to free itself 
at once from restraints under which all past life 
has been lived. But sequestered there in the 
ancestral home of his race, continued prayerful 
meditation, with perhaps additional revelations, 
brought order out of mental chaos. The 
warring factions of his soul were summoned 
before the high court of reflection, and their 
differences arbitrated. He attained a firm and 
full grasp of the gospel's essential nature and 
terms of its reception. The foundations of the 
orderly system of truth which Paul preached the 
rest of his life were laid during that season of 
retirement in Arabia. 



CHAPTER III. 
PAUL'S INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 



Acts 22: 20. 



CHAPTER III. 

Paul's intellectual qualities. 

Paul being a finely trained as well as richly 
gifted man, we expect distinction in his intel- 
lectual work. The treatment in this chapter 
includes only those faculties which are brought 
mostly into use in the work of preaching. 

I. 

I. Paul made frequent use in his sermons of 
notable experiences of his past life. His use of 
memory in this way is most conspicuous in re- 
gard to his persecution of the Christians. Five 
times he recalls his deplorable zeal in that direc- 
tion, and refers once to his complicity in the 
martyrdom of Stephen. The light that came 
to him in the face of Jesus Christ threw that 
sorrowful activity into dark relief, and the 
memories of those misguided days, like tall trees 
at even-tide, threw their shadows clear across 
his life's landscape. Paul never needlessly 
obtrudes the regrettable features of his former 
life, for "he was not a man to dwell with pride 
upon his past sins and failings"; but when, in 
his opinion, it served some worthy end to do so, 
he neither hesitated nor apologized for such 

31 



32 PAUL THE PREACHER 

personal references. The memory of that un- 
fortunate period was painful and humiliating, 
but in his own life it brought forth the lovely iTim.i:i5,i6. 
fruit of a humble and contrite spirit, and mag- 
nified before men the boundless mercy of God. 1 cor. 15: 9. 
2. In his speech from the castle steps in 

Acts 22' 6-8 

Jerusalem, and in his defence before Agrippa, Acts 26- 12-15. 
Paul recalled at some length the events that 
culminated in his conversion, which epoch was 
led up to by a rapid sketch of his previous life. 
The sequence of facts adduced constituted a 
powerful plea for an attitude of sober judgment 
toward himself. They adequately accounted 
for his change of faith and allegiance, and were 
a strong argument in support of the Messianic 
claims of Jesus: "I answered, Who art thou, 
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of 
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." The auto- Acts 22: 8. 
biographical facts stated by Paul constitute, it 
is true, an argument from experience, but as 
memory is the faculty in immediate exercise they 
are set down under this division. 

II. 

1. Paul's imagination was not the least of 
his intellectual gifts. There is no lack of im- 
agery in his writings. He drew upon many 
sources for rhetorical figures. Simile and meta- 
phor abound, with much use of the single-word 



PAUL THE PREACHER 33 

metaphor. His imagination does not, as a rule, 
construct highly artistic or idealized pictures, 
but warms the mass of his thought, which then 
yields itself to the purposes in hand. But at 
least two of Paul's longer productions are ex- 
ceptions to this general characterization of his 
imagination. We agree with Dr. John A. 
Broadus that, in at least one instance, Paul pro- 
duced "without apparent effort a gem of liter- 
ary beauty not surpassed in all the world's 
literature, that eulogium upon love, which 

1 cor. 13. blazes like a diamond on the bosom of Scrip- 
ture." And another writer has said: "Were 
his Epistles a ring of gold set with many dia- 
monds, this chapter would be the center stone 
of purest water, a diamond of many facets." 
The thought is elevated, and the lyric quality 
and movement are sustained to the end. To 
linger in praise of that piece of work would be 
carrying coals to Newcastle. The other long 

icor. i5:35f. selection of high literary rank is from the same 
Epistle. This is primarily an argument by 
analogy, and is to be considered as such in 
another place, but the profound thought is 
kindled and its outlines are softened and 
adorned by the creations of a flexible and 
affluent imagination. 

2. The most of Paul's composition that shows 
the touch of imagination's beauty consists of 



34 PAUL THE PREACHER 

brief passages scattered about like nuggets in 
the gold-bearing regions. " Every now and 
then," says Dr. Stalker, "his thought bursts up 
through the argument like a flaming geyser and 
falls in showers of sparks," and "these out- 
bursts are the finest passages in St. Paul." We 
meet with an image expressive and of delicate 
beauty in his address at Athens: "That they 
should seek God, if haply they might feel after 
him and find him, though he is not far from each 
one of us." The figure is that of a person grop- Acts 17:27. 
ing in the dark among the strings of an instru- 
ment till the satisfying note be found. There 
is fine vision and beautiful and vivid expression 
in the words: "The night is far spent, and the Rom. 13:12. 
day is at hand." There is a picturesque charm 
in Paul's description of the preacher: "How 
beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad 
tidings of good things !" Afar we see the herald Rom< 10: 15> 
hastening across the mountains with a joyous 
message to Zion. The passage is a quotation, 
but ability to appreciate the beautiful is of the 
same kind as that which creates it. The verse 
in which Paul contrasts our transitory life with 
the abiding home of the redeemed contains 
moving eloquence, a spirit that gladdens great 
oratory: "For we know that if the earthly 
house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have 
a building from God, a house not made with 



PAUL THE PREACHER 35 

hands, eternal in the heavens." The apostle's 
swan-song would, apart from being Scripture, 
endure on its literary merits: "I have fought 
the good fight, I have finished the course, I have 
kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for 
me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day." 
The blended effect of a backward and forward 
look mightily moved his soul, and a tide of 
thought and emotion flowed into expressions 
that belong on the high levels. The passage 
combines the beauty of solemn reflection, har- 
mony of thought and language, moral sublim- 
ity, and subduing pathos, and would have been 
impossible apart from a strong and chastened 
imagination. The examples quoted well illus- 
trate the quality of Paul's artistic imagination. 
He was perhaps constrained to directness and 
simplicity by principle. It did not seem fitting 
to clothe the truth in too much of the popular 
elegance and so-called "excellency of speech." 

III. 

Paul's was a many-sided intellect, but reason 
was supreme. It was the Colossus that be- 
strode his intellectual world. Paul's general 
policy of becoming all things to all men, that he 
might by all means save some, is aptly illus- 
trated in his methods of reasoning with different 



36 PAUL THE PREACHER 

races. To Jews and their sympathizers he 
appealed to the Scriptures, which with them, 
as with us, was a technical term, denoting cer- Rom. 3:2. 
tain writings — "the oracles of God" — whose 
word was authoritative. His approach to his 
countrymen is revealed in Luke's account of his 
work at Thessalonica where "Paul, as his cus- 
tom was, went in unto them, and for three 
Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scrip- 
tures, opening and alleging that it behooved the 
Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; 
and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim 
unto you, is the Christ," and his first reported Acts 17:2,3. 
missionary sermon, the one in the synagogue at 
Pisidian Antioch, was of the same character. Acts 13:17-40. 
At Corinth " he reasoned in the synagogue every Acts 18: 4 . 
sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks," and 
at Ephesus "he himself entered into the syna- Acta 18: 19 . 
gogue, and reasoned with the Jews." Andfthe 
substance of his message on all these occasions 
was "that Christ died for our sins according to 
the Scriptures; and that he was buried; and 
that he hath been raised on the third day ac- t Cor . is: 3, 4. 
cording to the Scriptures." When he wished to 
turn the hopes of the Jews from law to grace, he 
said: "What saith the Scripture? And Abra- 
ham believed God, and it was reckoned unto 
him for righteousness." Paul sought to per- Rom . 4:3 . 
suade the Jews from their own Scriptures of 



PAUL THE PREACHER 37 

four things: the Messiahship, the vicarious 
death, the resurrection of Jesus, and faith as the 
means of salvation. 

God had a message through Paul for the 
pagans of Lystra, but inspired penmen had not 
put it into books. So in seeking to convince 
them of the existence of the true and living God, 
Paul pointed them to the rains and fruitful 
seasons from heaven. A great man can be most 
elementary. Dr. Ramsay thinks that Paul, 
having lived in Tarsus, knew prior to this visit 
something of the character of the Lystrans. 
Paul was not bent on showing his learning that 
day. He could get no farther back than the 
simple truths of natural religion, from which he 
reasoned to the superstitious multitude there. 
The apostle must adopt yet another form of 
reasoning as his only hope of winning the 
Greeks. 

The Hellenic mind worked along evolutionary 
lines; there were stages by which things came 
to be as they are. Being now in Athens, the 
intellectual capital of the world, and knowing 
from contact with its thought in Tarsus the 
road by which, if at all, the Greeks could be led 
to a conviction, Paul cast the truth into philo- 
sophic form. The one God, Creator of the 
world and Author of life, "made of one every 
nation of men to dwell on all the face of the 



38 PAUL THE PREACHER 

earth, having determined their appointed sea- 
sons, and the bounds of their habitation.'' He Acts 17: 26. 
had not created all the present order just out of 
hand, but with him as First Cause and uphold- 
ing and governing Presence, it had developed. 
This conception would greatly please the philo- 
sophic Greeks, but its logic discredited their 
polytheism and undermined their racial pride 
and conceit. Paul was surpassingly skilful 
here. "Each word in the address is adapted 
at once to win and to rebuke." The theory of 
one living God acting in a providential manner 
destroyed the Epicurean theory of blind chance, 
as a personal Governor it ruled out the Stoic's 
doctrine of pantheism, as spiritual it rebuked 
the idolatry of the populace. 

Paul's logic assumes, at different times, 
most of the accepted forms. He was beset with 
enemies and errors of many kinds, and a variety 
of weapons and corrections was required. Some 
of his arguments fall easily into syllogisms, 
though the propositions are not formally stated. 
His proof that sin is universal may be set forth 
as follows: 

Failure to keep the divine law is sinful; E °^ 3: ' 9i ' 
Jews and Gentiles failed to keep the law; 
Hence, Jews and Gentiles are both sinful. 

Taking the conclusion of that syllogism as the 



Rom. S: 22, 28. 
Bom. 3:30. 



Acts 17: 28, 29. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 39 

major premise of a new one, we may carry the 
argument further: 

Jews and Gentiles are alike sinners; 

Faith is God's only means of salvation; 

Hence Jews and Gentiles must be saved by 
faith. 

In his speech on Mars Hill, Paul's argument for 
the spirituality of God is deductive also: 

Source and offspring are alike in nature; 

We are not like unto graven images; 

Hence, God is not like unto such things. 

The a fortiori — from the less to the greater — 
method of reasoning was in much favor with 
Paul. The principle in that form is, that since 
something has been found true in a less probable 
instance, it will surely be found true in a more 
probable one; as, for example, "if while we 
were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
through the death of his Son, much more, being 
reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." Three 
other examples occur in the same chapter. By 
the same method of reasoning Paul shows his 
right to support for preaching the gospel: "If 
others partake of this right over you, do not we 

1 cor. 9: i2. vet more ? " In some cases this same argument 
is not formally stated or is slightly concealed in 

1 Tim. 4: 8. tne expression. Paul gives us a fine example 
of his ability in refutation. The Corinthians 



Bom. 5: 10. 



40 PAUL THE PREACHER 

professed loyalty to Christ, but some of them 
at least were sceptical about the resurrection. 
The apostle reduces their position to absurdity 
by showing that belief in Christ carries with it 
the doctrine of the resurrection. Assuming 
that his reasoning satisfied them as to the fact 
of resurrection, another inquiry arises: "How 
are the dead raised up? and with what man- 
ner of body do they come?" This question, 
whether actual or anticipated, gives occasion 
for Paul's most elaborate argument by analogy. 
This method does not prove anything; but it 
has great defensive and inferential value, and 
it is in the latter sense that he uses it. Paul 
sets forth at length the differing facts of nature, 
and the transforming effects produced in given 
cases by natural processes, and then says: "So 
also is the resurrection from the dead." 

The masterpiece of Paul's reasoning is the 
first part of his Epistle to the Romans. The 
argument there has grasp, depth, and conclu- 
siveness. It is referred to and numbered sepa- 
rately here because of its general and inclusive 
character. There are arguments within one 
great argument. It is to Jew and Gentile; it 
contains all the kinds of proof that Paul uses 
in appealing to special races and classes. With 
God as his fundamental postulate, the apostle 
wrote out his philosophy of history and of re- 



1 Cor. 15:12- 
19. 



1 Cor. 15:35- 
42. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 41 

ligion. He views the record of human life from 
the moral standpoint. Mankind had a knowl- 
edge of God: a knowledge of his being, " for the 
invisible things of him since the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being perceived through 
the things that are made, even his everlasting 

Rom. 1:20. power and divinity;'' a knowledge of his will 
through the "law written in their hearts, their 
conscience bearing witness therewith, and their 
thoughts one with another accusing or else 
excusing them." The Jews had the further 

Eom. s:2. advantage of the oracles of God. The Gentiles 

Rom. i: 22-27. had reached indescribable degradation, and the 
Jews had also failed of righteousness. There is 

Rom. 3:23. no distinction; all have sinned, and fallen short 
of divine requirements. The appalling situa- 
tion calls for God's intervention, that salvation 

Rom. 3:20. niay be secured on some other basis than law. 
God answered the imperative need by mani- 
festing a "righteousness of God through faith 
in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe . . . 
being justified freely by his grace through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Paul then 
shows the harmony of his conclusion with God's 
covenant with Abraham, answers antinomi- 
anism, and closes the eighth chapter with a shout 
of triumph. In writing this Epistle Paul's 
thought was face to face with Rome, the center 
of a great unity, the Empire. Would not such 



42 PAUL THE PREACHER 

an inclusive spiritual scheme appeal to citizens 
of that vast system? The great unity with 
which they were familiar had a counterpart in 
God's uniform principle of salvation. 

IV. 

It is evident that in the sum of his intellec- 
tual gifts Paul was easily first among the in- 
spired writers. Preachers sometimes apologize 
for personal references. Paul freely made use 
of such material, good or bad, if it would serve 
the purpose in hand. His imagination lay 
somewhat in the background; but when moral 
impulse warmed his being, imagination often 
took the intellectual throne. The exquisite 
play of this faculty in love's hymn is thus icor. is. 
explained. When he comes to the "most excel- 
lent way," the kindled imagination created that 
piece of jewelry in words. His finest imagina- 
tive strains are blossoms out of the vitality of 
the thought he is developing. Where one's 
work has to do with permanent records a "man's 
stature is estimated sooner or later by his 
mastery of logic." Next to his Master Paul 
has been the largest factor in Christianity, and 
this has been due in large measure to the range 
and quality of his reason. There is a flexi- 
bility and adaptability in its exercise that is for 
our admiration and inspiration. 



CHAPTER IV. 
PAUL'S EMOTIONAL QUALITIES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Paul's emotional qualities. 

Intellectually gifted as he was, Paul was much 
more than an "animated syllogism." Some 
students have fixed upon his emotion as the 
distinctive quality of his character. He was 
indeed "fervent in spirit/' but it is not neces- 
sary to exalt unduly that factor of his being in 
order to give it proper recognition. The term 
emotion includes many psychological elements, 
but our present interest is in that part of the 
affections which, in our nomenclature, is called 
love. 

I. 

Paul's warmth of nature is revealed in his 
relations to personal friends. He refers to 
Timothy as "my beloved and faithful child," 
and later addresses a letter to this young friend 
as "my beloved child." And when alone in 
Rome, save for Luke, Paul yearns for Timothy's 
presence: "Give diligence to come shortly unto 
me." Paul met Luke, the beloved physician, 
first at Troas, won him to Christ, loved and 
leaned upon him to the end. His exquisite note 
to Philemon palpitates with heart-warmth 
towards both master and slave. His numerous 

45 



46 PAUL THE PREACHER 

salutations at the close of his letters are not 
only the courtesies of a gentleman, but the dis- 
closures of a loving soul. There is a delicate 
quality in the words: "Salute Rufus the chosen 
in the Lord, and his mother and mine." Paul Rom. i6:is. 
was not a Stoic who, "under the bludgeonings 
of chance," could boast: 

" I am the master of my fate, 
I am the captain of my soul." 

"When I came to Troas ... I had no relief 
for my spirit, because I found not Titus my 2Cor 2:1S# 
brother." The presence of friends revived and 
gave vigor to his languishing spirits. "There 
is," says Dr. Stalker, "no more conclusive 
proof of the depth and sincerity of Paul's heart 
than the affection he inspired in others; for it 
is only the loving who are loved." Many 
there were who waited ready to do his bidding, 
whether in serving him or promoting the gospel. 
The Galatians would have plucked out their 
eyes for him. The basis of this was not admira- 
tion, but love responding to love. People loved 
Paul because he first loved them. 

II. 

The most sustained exhibition of Paul's feel- 
ings was given in his address to the elders of 
Ephesus, a group of preachers who came forty 



PAUL THE PREACHER 47 

miles to see him. The occasion in itself is a 
tribute to Paul's unselfish love for the elders and 
the other members of the church; for he was 
hastening that he might, if possible, be at Jeru- 
salem the day of Pentecost. The whole address 
palpitates with emotion. The deeps of his soul 
are broken up, and his language is tense with 
the strain of its emotional contents. Paul 
exhibits feelings scarcely expected from one 
whose intellect had already produced Romans, 
and was yet to bring forth Ephesians and Colos- 
sians. The occasion was unique in that they 
should behold his face no more, but that fact 
alone did not account for the tender passions 
surging within the apostle, because he reminds 
the elders that "by the space of three years I 
ceased not to admonish every one night and day 
with tears." His concern for their spiritual 
welfare had in other days, as now, caused the 
fountain of tears to overflow. Most of Paul's 
emotional moods are transient, but here the 
spirit continued till his friends "brought him 
on his way unto the ship." 

III. 

Passages that illustrate Paul's affectionate 
disposition are found in all his letters to churches 
as a whole. To notice several places where this 
fact prominently appears will serve our purpose. 



48 PAUL THE PREACHER 

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he; and 
the tree is known by its fruits. Then one who 
could pour into words the passion and poetry icor. is. 
contained in love's perfect hymn was large in 
his capacity for love. He takes the crown 
jewel into his hands, turns it over and over and 
from side to side, viewing from every angle the 
light and beauty of its facets. And is not this 
chapter meant by Paul as a revelation of his 
heart towards the readers and hearers of it? It 
is surely not an ideal for others, but detached 
from his own experience. In Second Corin- 
thians, the most personal of Paul's Epistles, we 
discover the depth and wealth of his tender 
feelings. "Out of much affliction and anguish 
of heart I wrote unto you with many tears . . . 
that ye might know the love which I have more 
abundantly unto you." "Ye are in our hearts icor. 2:4. 
to die together and live together," "and I will 2C or. 7:3. 
most gladly spend and be spent for your souls." % C or. 12: u. 

If we are disposed to believe Paul insincere 
or merely indulging in Oriental hyperbole, this 
would be a good place to rest the charge, for 
it would be difficult for one to invent stronger 
professions of love. Intellect in itself knows no 
such abandon. Thought there is, but thought 
suffused with tenderness. 

The fickleness of the Galatians provoked Paul 
immeasurably, and he sternly rebuked them for 



PAUL THE PREACHER 49 

allowing themselves to be so easily bewitched 
into apostasy; but the anger "is love enflamed 
by solicitude for its beloved." Quickly the 
tempest subsides into the calm of a revived 
affection: "My little children, of whom I am 

aai. 4:19. again in travail until Christ be formed in you." 
Paul's sincerity is proved by the fact that his love 
was being lavished upon two bodies conspicuous 
for doctrinal errors and moral obliquities. Such 
love bears the hall-mark of Calvary's passion. 

For obvious reasons Paul's love for the church 
at Philippi expresses itself in praise for past 
favors and as ready to sacrifice in future service: 
"Yea, and if I am poured out as a drink-offer- 
ing upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, 
I joy, and rejoice with you all." The apostle's 

pwi. 2: it. attitude towards organized bodies reveals 
"gentleness, tenderness, forbearance, and for- 
giveness — love's manifold graces." 

IV. 

Love for his own race burned fadeless and 
pure as a vestal fire in Paul's heart. Rebuffed 
in his efforts to win them to Christ, scorned and 
persecuted by them in every place, the warm 
current of his soul was not frozen by relentless 
Jewish opposition. Whatever antipathy ap- 
pears was doctrinal, not personal. Two notable 
passages afford ample proof of the apostle's 



5o 



PAUL THE PREACHER 



abiding affection for his people. " I have great 
sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For 
I could wish that I myself were anathema from 
Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen Ro m. 10: i. * 
according to the flesh." "Brethren, my heart's 
desire and my supplication to God is for them, 
that they may be saved." We discover in the 
words quoted settled grief, a vicarious attitude, 
and fervent intercession. The language is in- 
tense, and at the time it was written, 58 A.D., 
the Jews had fully shown their hatred of Paul 
and the gospel. Love that endures rejection 
and persecution is genuine. Paul's affection 
for his race was undying, but a minor note is 
detected here. Love is folding its wounded 
wings. He is in a measure retiring from un- 
availing efforts to win them, but they shall 
know the spirit that still animates him. 



Several general remarks seem fitting as a con- 
clusion of our survey of the emotional aspect of 
Paul's personality. His conversion transformed 
his emotional nature. Surging passions that 
had made havoc of the church were transfused 
into a wonderful tenderness of heart. Though 
he was a man of fine self-control, Paul freely 
showed his feeling at proper times. "In the 
very midst of his gigantic thoughts and reason- 



PAUL THE PREACHER 51 

ings," says Dr. W. L. Watkinson, "spring the 
sweetest, loveliest bits of heart's-ease that ever 
greeted weeping eyes or brought fresh hope into 
despairing souls." Paul's object in appealing 
to the hearts of people was in order to move 
them to action in line with truth already pre- 
sented, to which end knowledge alone is rarely 
sufficient. At first thought we are surprised 
at how little Paul says about his love for Christ 
compared with how much he says about Christ's 
love for him. But, apart from a natural re- 
serve, the love of Christ to him, the chief of 
sinners, so overwhelmed him with awe and filled 
him with gratitude, that Paul did not deem his 
response in kind as worthy to be mentioned 
in connection with the glory of that love which 
passeth all knowledge. His life was a proclama- 
tion of his love to Christ. It was the realiza- 
tion of Christ's unmerited love for him that 
made Paul the great lover of mankind. "His 
love for all men is the overflow of Christ's love 
for him," and it was the love of Christ that con- 
strained Paul to make known, wherever possible, 
the riches of that love to the sons of men. 
There was nothing effeminate about Paul's 
affection. He uttered the most scathing con- 
demnations against hypocrisy, apostasy, im- 
morality, and those whom he considered to be 
enemies of the Cross. 



CHAPTER V. 
PAUL'S VOLITIONAL LIFE. 



/ 



CHAPTER V. 

Paul's volitional life. 

The will is the executive of the personality; 
and, other faculties being equal, is the decisive 
factor in determining a career. What Paul 
achieved in the work of the ministry was due, 
in the last analysis, to the constitution and 
direction of his will. 

I. 

Paul was choosing with reference to Christ 
all through his life; but we are concerned at 
this point to note the great choice which marked 
the beginning of his new life. This choice of 
Jesus as Messiah and Lord was the fundamental 
event of his career. His convictions and prej- 
udices were all at first on the side of contem- 
porary Judaism. Jesus, with his seemingly 
radical claims, appeared in the life of the nation, 
and many had avowed their faith in him. It is 
not improbable, in the midst of his frenzied per- 
secution of Christ's followers, that Paul's judg- 
ment was in the balance, with all the heavier 
weight as yet on the side against Jesus. Dr. 
Garvie thinks the issue between Paul and the 
Christians had narrowed down to the question 

55 



56 PAUL THE PREACHER 

of the resurrection of Jesus. The visual and icor.ii:*. 
vocal evidence of that fact, with its amazing ActiM:7 - 
accompaniments, as given on the Damascus 
road, snapped all restraints. Whether the 
obstacles were few, or many, they were in- 
stantly removed. Paul's judgment was con- 
vinced, and his choice quickly made. The 
vision of the historic Jesus of Nazareth, now 
risen from the dead, was ample evidence that 
he was the true Messiah. How crowded and 
significant of the future were the moments! 
Choosing Jesus as Saviour, him also Paul ac- 
cepted as Lord: "What shall I do, Lord?" ActrM :io. 
And ever afterwards Paul is constantly desig- 
nating Christ as Lord. His initial choices 
promise well for his future Christian life. 

II. 

In every person of marked decision of char- 
acter there is a dominant purpose. The will 
proposes to itself some definite course. Ques- 
tions are decided by their relation to this aim, 
and from it the main activities get their sanc- 
tion. The second step in Paul's volitional life 
was a simple but strong resolution so to regulate 
his life as to please Christ. He stated that 
purpose in his earliest Epistle, "not as pleasing 
men, but God who proveth our hearts." He iThew. 2:4. 
doubtless remembered often how much he had 



2 Cor. 5: 9. 



1 Cor. 4: 3, 4. 



Matt. 6:22. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 57 

displeased his Lord in other .days, but he 
steadily adhered to the new intention of his 
soul. He preferred to be relieved of the 
struggles and tribulations of this present life, 
to be at home with Christ in the house not made 
with hands, but that preference was subordi- 
nated to a higher consideration: "We make it 
our aim whether at home or absent, to be well- 
pleasing unto Him." Paul did not pretend to 
be indifferent to the opinions that men had 
concerning him, Galatians and Second Corin- 
thians being witnesses. He wanted visible re- 
sults from his labors; but these things were as 
small dust in the balance compared with the 
favorable judgment of Christ: "With me it is a 
very small thing that I should be judged of you, 
or of man's judgment . . . but he that judgeth 
me is the Lord." Paul had the single eye. 
The high intention of his soul was never de- 
flected by prospects of pain, nor offers of ease 
or pleasure. 

III. 

Next in order of logic and importance after 
Paul's choice and purpose was his submission 
to the will of Christ or God. His question, as 
he lay upon the ground, "What shall I do, 
Lord?" meant more than a choice of Christ as 
Lord. It meant also submission. There was 



58 PAUL THE PREACHER 

increasing knowledge and understanding of 
Christ's will, but the key-note of Paul's attitude 
was struck in that request for directions. The 
music of his life was harmonious with the spirit 
of that first question. He began his greatest 
Epistle not only with his name, but also a title 
expressive of his relation: "Paul, a bondservant 
of Jesus Christ," and the phrase is repeated a Rom. i:i. 
number of times in other places. Paul was a 
sincere nature. Cant was to him an impossi- 
bility. He never indulged in mock self-deprecia- 
tion, which, as one has said, is both hypocrisy 
and egotism. Keeping in mind the nature of 
the man, we get the full significance of the name 
he applies to himself. His submission was as 
unreserved as it was immediate. The final 
regulative factor in his movements was the will Acts is: 21. 
of God. He was happy to be led in bonds R 0m . i:io. 
at the chariot-wheels of his Conqueror. He 2Cor. 2:14. 
wished to bring even every thought into cap- 
tivity to the will of Christ. When Paul came 2 cor. 10: 5. 
to the cross-roads, he looked to see which way 
the divine finger pointed. He would reflect 
upon circumstances till he was able to read 
therein the divine will. Such unreserved sub- Acts 16:6,7. 
mission to the authority of another arrests us. 
Every view of Paul reveals a masterful will, and 
a pride rooted in genius and nurtured by cul- 
ture; but he yielded suddenly, absolutely, and 



PAUL THE PREACHER 59 

permanently the control of his life to Christ. 
Paul's will was not broken nor absorbed, but 
sheathed in the will of Jesus. "Christ had 
taken him, as the sovereign harmony takes the 
wandering tone." It was a slavery indeed, but 
that form of slavery which is the best liberty, 
liberty regulated by perfect Law. 

IV. 

Paul's submission to Christ issued in efforts 
for Christ. Somewhat of the extent of his 
efforts is set down in the chapter on Paul's 
fields of labor. We note in this division some 
prominent characteristics of his activity. First 
of all he was prompt. No Hamlet was he. 
He was free from that infirmity of will whose 
"native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the 
pale cast of thought." Paul was not the dawd- 
ling kind. When duty was clear and the time 
at hand, he was off with the word. Impulse 
was not permitted to lose its healthy force by 
delay. "Interval there was none between his 
apprehension of the Divine purpose," says F. B. 
Meyer, "and his endeavor to strike his tent and 
follow wherever it might lead." Promptness 
is watermarked on every phase of his activity. 
Converted and admitted into the circle of the 
disciples at Damascus, "straightway in the 
Acts 9: 20. synagogues he proclaimed Jesus." If men re- 



60 PAUL THE PREACHER 

jected his message, as at Antioch In Pisidia, 
or mocked, as at Athens, he did not haggle with 
them; he left them for more hopeful material. 
He passed rapidly from one city to another. 
This spirit does not imply unreasoning haste on 
Paul's part; but, being quick-witted, he dis- 
cerned the significance of a situation. The 
time must be redeemed, for the night was 
coming. And the apostle was as firm as he was 
prompt in action. On the defensive he steadily 
maintained the spirituality of the gospel. Paul 
cared nothing for circumcision as such, but 
fearing the "false brethren" would make a test 
case of it, "not even Titus who was with me, 
being a Greek, was compelled to be circum- oai. 2:3. 
cised." Peter drew back from social inter- 
course with the Gentiles at Antioch, and Paul 
resisted and rebuked him to the face for such 
apostasy. Had the council gathered at Jeru- Gal 2:llf 
salem sided with the men who said, "Except ye 
be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye Actsi5:i,6. 
cannot be saved," we can imagine with what 
vehemence Paul would have repudiated the 
decision, and with what righteous disdain he 
would have gone out from them. He was a 
pacificist, if peace could be had without surren- 
dering something more valuable. Paul was 
none the less firm in aggressive operations. 
He persevered in the face of hindrances and 



PAUL THE PREACHER 61 

difficulties that would have intimidated and 
turned back a man made of less heroic stuff. 

27. Evil was entrenched in the Gentile world, per- 

sonal perils were on every hand and of every 
kind. But these were a challenge to Paul. He 
sternly held his course against the wind. The 
Holy Spirit testified that bonds and afflictions 
awaited him, but none of those things daunted 
him. He would go on though death was at the 

Acts 21: 13. end of the road. 

"For where he fixed his heart he set his hand 
To do the thing he willed, and bore it 
through." 

Paul's efforts were characterized by great 
energy. His zeal enflamed his abilities, re- 
leasing irrepressible tides of energy. He was 
dynamic. He put his whole self into action. 
He was like a cavalry charge. He spent him- 
self. He struck with his might. His impact 
was in full force. This is the impression made 
on us by a consideration of Paul in any situation. 

As we read his words to-day, we feel their 
throb. We feel the vigor in his rebuke of the 
sorcerer at the court of Sergius Paulus: "Thou 
son of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, 
wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of 
the Lord?" And whether he is addressing a 
synagogue congregation, superstitious pagans, 



62 PAUL THE PREACHER 

cultured Athenians, a Jerusalem mob, or rulers 

and kings, his words tingle with an electric 

vitality. In writing he is so driven that 

thoughts crowd upon each other. He piles 

truth upon truth, like Ossa upon Pelion. He Eph. 2:1-10. 

wrote passages that never could be parsed. 

Leaving one thought incompletely expressed, Eph. s:i. 

he leaps to another. He leaves gaps whose 

content our translations seek to supply by i 5# Cor * 8:1 °" 

italicized words. 

The territory he covered in the comparatively 
brief period between the beginning of his first 
missionary journey and his martyrdom in 
Rome is an abiding witness to Paul's unrelaxing 
efforts. The record that lies within those dates 
is unique in history. Think of the ground 
traversed and cultivated in Asia Minor, the 
great cities visited in Europe, preaching even 
as far as Illyricum, and then to Rome, perhaps 
to Spain, and back into Asia Minor and Greece, 
and ever on till a martyr's death released him. 
This achievement was possible only on the 
theory that his energy so spurred him that he 

• 1 • 1 Act s20:31. 

redeemed the time both of night and day, and 1 cor. is: 10. 
that he labored more abundantly than all 
the other apostles. "And what differences 
preachers one from another, with respect to the 
total volume of influence that they finally exert, 
is, I am persuaded," says Dr. W. C. Wilkinson, 



PAUL THE PREACHER 63 

"as much as any one thing, the original en- 
dowment of energy which they put into their 
work." 

V. 

The final thing to be considered as to Paul's 
volitional life is his motives. Motives enter 
into all actions, so are given treatment in a 

E P h. 5:29. separate division of this chapter. "No man 
ever hated his own flesh," and the gospel of 
Christ does not impose upon its votaries a 
philosophy of life wholly contrary to nature. 
So Paul was moved by a just consideration for 
his own highest eternal welfare. He was saved 
by what Christ had done for him, but he was 
to be rewarded by what he should do, or try to do, 
for Christ. All work was to be tested and its 
quality revealed in the great day; and on the 
firm foundation of Christ, Paul sought to build 

15 . ° " of lasting material — gold, silver, and costly 

stones. There were motives also that related 

2 cor. 6:20. specially to Christ. He was not his own; he 
had been bought with a price; he was Christ's 

pha. i: 1. bondservant. Thus was he moved by the duty 
of obedience to his rightful Master. But Paul's 
great motive in relation to Christ was gratitude 
for the love of Christ: "For the love of Christ 
constraineth us; because we thus judge, that 
one died for all . . . and he died for all, that 



64 PAUL THE PREACHER 

they that live should no longer live unto them- 
selves, but unto him who for their sakes died 
and rose again." Far above any legal motive 15. 
both in quality and efficiency was the apostle's 
gratitude for abounding grace through the 
Cross. It banked in the current of his intel- 
lect, emotions, and will, and was the gravita- 
tion that drew the stream restlessly onward. 
The emphasis of the passage is on the love of 
Christ for Paul, which awoke in his heart a love 
to the great Lover. 

The moralists of Paul's generation, in his 
own nation and elsewhere, taught much lofty 
truth, but their exhortations, lacking the con- 
straining motive of the " mercies of God," were Bom. 12:1. 
ineffective to produce moral transformation. 
Paul was also moved by a desire for the present 
and eternal good of men. He became all things 1 cor. 9:22. 
to all men, that he might by all means save 
some; and his heart's desire and supplication Bom. 10: 1. 
to God was for his kinsmen after the flesh, that 
they might be saved. Out of Christ men were Rom. 6: ie. 
the bondservants of sin in the present, and in 
the end their wages would be spiritual death. Rom. 6:23. 
Knowing therefore the fear of God, and the 
wrath of God against all ungodliness and un- R m. 1.18. 
righteousness, Paul persuaded and besought 2 cor. 5: 20. 
men to be reconciled to God. This intense de- 
sire for the salvation of his fellow-men was a 



PAUL THE PREACHER 65 

gift from Christ to Paul. He was passing on 
to others what Christ had bestowed upon him. 
The light of love that shone in his own soul was 
a reflection of the greater love of Christ. He 
preached Christ Jesus as Lord, and himself as 
2 cor. 4:5. men's servant for Jesus' sake. The secure 
basis for an abiding love of humanity is an 
intense appreciation of the love of Christ 
towards ourselves. 



CHAPTER VI. 
PAUL'S SPIRITUAL LIFE. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The prominence of the distinctively spiritual 
element in Paul is obvious and universally 
recognized. "His mystical union with Christ 
as God," says Dr. James M. Campbell, "was 
the central fact in his experience as a Christian 
man"; and Dr. A. E. Garvie expresses the same 
conviction in similar language: "What has un- 
fortunately been called his faith-mysticism is 
the most characteristic feature of his experi- 
ence." But as mysticism is not a definitely 
• Christian term, is somewhat vague, and mis- 
leading in many of its associations, it will not 
be employed here. This subject brings us into 
the holy place of Paul's personality. 

I. 

Consider the fact in several phases. By 
Paul's spiritual life is meant that portion of the 
very life of God which was imparted to the 
coi. 3:4. apostle's individual spirit. It resulted from 

his union with "Christ, who is our life." In 
most cases an adequate translation of Paul's 
Rom. 11:24. frequent phrase "in Christ" would be in union 
with Christ. He was grafted into the Olive 

69 



70 PAUL THE PREACHER 

Tree. There was a passing of divine life into 
human life. He was one with Christ, as the 
estuary is one with the sea. This union, vital icor.6:i7. 
and real as it was, preserved individuality. The 
conception defies analysis, but Paul was first of 
all a "man in Christ" and his "life was hid 2Cor. 12:2. 
with Christ in God." He could have said in all coi. 3:3. 
sincerity with the Psalmist: "All my fountains 
are in Thee." Paul realized the mutual com- 
munion prayed for by Jesus. His spiritual John 17:21. 
life began with his conversion. The outward 
circumstances of that event were so staggering 
and bewildering that the accounts do not direct 
attention to the inward transaction, but suf- 
ficient information is supplied otherwise. "If 
any one is in union with Christ," as The Twen- 
tieth Century New Testament translates, "he 
is a new being. His old life has passed away; a 2 cor. 5: 14. 
new life has begun." By all tokens Paul was 
from that epochal occasion a new spiritual being 
and had begun a new spiritual life. God at 
that time revealed his Son to Paul. Christ Gai. i:is. 
connected the convert with the eternal sources, 
and the well of life evermore was springing up 
within. 

II. 

Consider some ways in which Paul nourished 
his spiritual life. He does not take us into the 
chamber of his inner activities to any great de- 



PAUL THE PREACHER 71 

gree. In honorable souls there is always a 
noble reserve. Private matters are not brought 
forth to the common gaze. Under normal cir- 
cumstances, Paul was not a man to talk about 
himself, nor what he was doing for himself; so 
"many of the rules by which he was guided can 
only be learned inferentially." One may preach 
or write out of his experience without proclaiming 
the experience itself. What Paul wanted he 
prayed for. He besought the Lord thrice for 

2 cor. 12:8. the removal of the painful and humbling thorn. 

Rom. 1:10. He prayed that he might go to Rome; that the 
Father would grant unto the Ephesians noblest 

Eph. 3:i4-i9. attainments in the spiritual life. 

We are warranted in believing that the coun- 
sels of one whose teaching was so largely experi- 
ential and whose nature was so sincere were 
reflections of his own practices. In his earliest 

iThess. 5:17. Epistle he exhorts the converts to "pray with- 
out ceasing"; and one of the duties enjoined 

Rom. 12: 12. upon the church at Rome was to continue 
"steadfastly in prayer"; and he asked them to 

Rom. 15:30- ... 

32. pray for him. Surely it is a legitimate inference 

that Paul prayed constantly and fervently for 
renewal of supplies of life, for grace to be added 
unto grace. 

He nourished his spiritual life by right 
thoughts. He guarded his heart with all dili- 
gence against intrusions of evil. His soul was 



72 PAUL THE PREACHER 

preoccupied with sacred engagements. "Set 
your mind on the things that are above, not coi. s:s. 
on things that are upon the earth." And in 
writing to the beloved church at Philippi Paul 
enumerates objects proper for meditation: 
"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honorable, whatsoever things are just, what- 
soever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report Phil. 4:8. 
. . . think on these things," "for as a man 
thinketh within himself, so is he," and "to be Prov. 23:7. 
spiritually minded is life and peace." The divine Rom. 8: 6. 
life will not have fellowship with thoughts that 
are of the earth, earthy. But in meditating 
upon things congenial to the mind of Christ 
human thoughts are quickened and elevated by 
the impact and transfusion of heavenly grace; 
and men are in no small measure transformed 
by the renewing of their minds. It is possible Rom. 12:2. 
to become the best only by thinking the best. 
It is the function of the Holy Spirit to reveal, 
magnify and enthrone the Christ. Paul fed 
his spiritual life by maintaining conditions that 
allowed the free operation of that Spirit. He 
states this negatively: "Grieve not the Holy Eph. 4: 30. 
Spirit of God" by known sins; and "Quench lThess. 5:w. 
not the Spirit" by resistance to His motions, 
by refusing to yield to His guidance. One of 
the stinging rebukes, perhaps the one that fixed 



PAUL THE PREACHER 73 

his fate, in Stephen's address before the council 
» 7: 51. was: "Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit." 

III. 

Consider some results of Paul's spiritual life. 
It needs to be remarked that no rigid consistency 
is maintained by the apostle in naming the 
efficient agency. The work may be viewed as 
done by grace, Christ, the Spirit, or God Him- 
self. But the essential fact is, that Paul was 
conscious of a power not of himself, but ulti- 
mately of God, producing results within and 
. 2:i3. without his being. Rich and rounded Christian 
character was, under God, one of the apostle's 
attainments. He was being transformed into 
the image of Christ by the operation of the 
Spirit. All that sun, rain, and fertility are to 
the earth, that and more was the indwelling life 
of God to Paul's nature, producing varied but 
kindred and harmonious fruits: "love, joy, 
Gai. 5:22, 23. peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith- 
fulness, meekness, self-control." Every one in 
that assemblage of virtues enriched his char- 
acter; and the soil of his inward being, in which 
they were rooted, was vitalized by a force not 
his own. 

In his spiritual life Paul found unfailing re- 
lets 26: 22. sources for all his own incompetency. He 
obtained help from God. Indeed, when he was 



74 PAUL THE PREACHER 

personally weak, he was most truly strong, for 
then the power of Christ rested upon him. 10. 
Christ not only gave power to the apostle's 
powers, but supplemented them. His faculties 
were revived and reenforced. "Be strong in 
the Lord, and in the strength of his might" was Eph. 6:io. 
an exhortation based on constant personal 
experience. God energized mightily in Paul, coi. i: 29. 
and made him equal to every demand: "I can Phii. 4:13. 
do all things in him that strengtheneth me." 
Paul loved his friends, and their presence and 
sympathy were comfort and encouragement to 
him: but when these all forsook him, still "the 

1 Tim. 4:16, 

Lord stood by me, and strengthened me." In 17. 
every crisis grace was supplied in needed 
measure. 

Paul's manifold outward achievements were 
credited to the operation of the divine life. He 
did not consider worthy of mention any things 
save those which Christ wrought through him. Rom. 15: is. 
He labored more abundantly than all the other 
apostles; yet, it was not he, but the grace of 
God which was with him. "I planted, Apollos 

. 1 Cor. 15:10 

watered; but God gave the increase." He icor. 3:6. 

preached, but success came only because God 

bore witness to the word of grace. Paul lived 

in Christ and Christ in Paul; and the co-opera- Gai. 2:20. 

tion was so perfect that the apostle did not 

attempt to separate his activities from Christ's, 



PAUL THE PREACHER 75 

any more than we would divide the blended 
waters of a valley stream into its components. 

"Who shall draw the mystic line 
Severing rightly His from thine, 
Which is human, which divine?" 

"The deeds which seem most our own," says 
Dr. Campbell, "may be the very deeds in which 
he most fully realizes Himself; so that when 
we are most conscious of living our own lives, 
Christ may be most fully living Himself over 
again in us." That voices Paul's idea and 
experience. Analysis could not relieve the con- 
scious process of mystery or indefiniteness; but 
Paul knew that from God came the final element 
of efficiency. 

It was the apostle's possession of abundant 
spiritual life that enabled him to minister 
spiritual life to others, whether that life be con- 
ceived in terms of comfort, courage, faith, or 
love. "I long to see you," he writes to the 
church at Rome, "that I may impart unto you 
some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be estab- 
lished." The idea of giving what has already 
been received is more fully set forth where he 
writes of the "God of all comfort; who com- 
forteth us in all our afflictions, that we may be 
able to comfort them that are in any affliction, 
through the comfort wherewith we ourselves 



76 PAUL THE PREACHER 

are comforted of God." Faith, hope, and love 
he could inspire in others because God had first 
given him a fulness of those virtues. 

Dr. Lyman Abbott has given the finest 
modern interpretation of this phase of Paul's 
life known to the writer. In "A Birthday 
Monologue" — having just passed his eightieth 
anniversary — he states what he regards as the 
secret of his life: "Whatever I have done for 
others has first been done for me. If I have 
solved any one's doubts, it is because these 
doubts have first confronted me in my search 
for truth; and the solution which I have found 
under the guidance of an invisible Teacher I 
have passed on to others. ... I have some- 
times relighted the torch in the hands of a 
comrade; but it has always been because the 
Light-bearer before me had first lighted my 
torch and bid me pass the light to others. . . . 
For myself, I would be glad if any one who has 
ever received help from any word or deed of 
mine might believe with me that I have not 
been the giver of life, only the distributer of the 
life which the Life-giver has given to me." 



CHAPTER VII. 
PAUL'S MESSAGE. 



CHAPTER VII. 



It has been noted in an earlier chapter of this 
volume that Paul was given a message from 
God, which he designates indifferently as the 
gospel of God, of Jesus, of Christ, or the Lord. 
It is desired at this point to consider separately 
some of the main elements composing the one 
message, and also the apostle's methods of pre- 
senting the truth. In order to give unity and 
progress to the discussion, each part of the 
message is viewed in its relation to mankind. 



I. A basic element in Paul's message relates 
to human sin, which, in his view, was universal; 
"for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory 
of God." Paul in Romans shows the sinful- 
ness of Gentiles and Jews separately, and sums 
up the case by putting both in the same class: 
"We before laid to the charge both of Jews and 
Greeks, that they are all under sin." The ex- 
cellence required by the law, whether written 
as with the Jew, or unwritten as with the Greek, 
and the higher ideal of the divine character — 

79 



80 PAUL THE PREACHER 

the glory of God — had been missed; and 
"there is none righteous, no not one." Sin had R 0m . 3: 10. 
its origin in the transgression of Adam: 
"Through one man sin entered the world," or, 
more concretely stated, "through the one man's Rom. 5: 12,19. 
disobedience the many were made sinners." 
This is introduced primarily neither to prove 
the universality nor the origin of sin, but as a 
background upon which to display the univer- 
sal grace through Christ. Still the statements, 
though used for comparison, are true. There 
are not two sources of sin, and the reconcilia- 
tion of Paul's seeming to ascribe sin in one case 
to the "flesh," and then to Adam's original 
transgression is found in the principle of first 
and second causes. The race had inherited 
from Adam a depraved nature, for which flesh 
is a "compendious term," and from that cor- 
rupt soil the evil fruit sprang. In one instance 
he views the cause in a remote stage and in the 
other he views it in the immediate stage. It is- 
noticeable that in developing the doctrine of 
sin in Romans Paul establishes the fact of uni- 
versal sinfulness, ending this at verse twenty 
of chapter three, before he refers at all to the 
Adamic transgression. One effect of human 
sin was guilt, so that men were viewed as God's Rom 5:10# 
enemies; and, as such, brought under his judg- 
ment, and exposed to his wrath; "for the wrath Rom. 3:19. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 81 

of God is revealed from heaven against all un- 
godliness and unrighteousness of men." 

A second effect of sin was moral bondage, for 
"to whom ye present yourselves as servants 
unto obedience, his servants ye are." General- 
izing an autobiographical passage, we get Paul's 
view of the measure of that power. It was the 
dominant factor in determining conduct; "for 
the good which I would I do not: but the evil 
which I would not, that I practice." 

The final effect of sin, the consummation of 
the process, was death; for "through one man 
sin entered into the world, and death through 
sin," and the "wages of sin is death." The first 
passage more likely refers to physical death as 
a consequence of Adam's sin, and the second 
means spiritual death, as separation from God's 
grace and life, since it is contrasted with the 
"free gift of God " which " is eternal life in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." In at least two passages 
Paul departs from the ordinary Jewish concep- 
tion of the divine will as the operating cause, 
and views death as a natural result of the work- 
ings of sin in the soul. "The wages of sin is 
death," and "whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto 
his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." 
But from either point of view death is the 
penalty of sin, and the penalty is just; for 



82 PAUL THE PREACHER 

"they that practice such things are worthy of 

death." Rom. 1:32. 

2. Paul's portrayal of sin was preparatory to 
his message of deliverance from it. "God, the 
Father, of whom are all things," was the Author 
of salvation. Salvation is by grace, and God 1Co r. 8:6. 
is the source of grace: "it is the gift of God." E P h. 2:8. 
The divine love was the spring; grace the out- 
flowing stream. The fact is not usually dis- 
connected from other factors in the process, but 
God is everywhere set forth as the Originator Rom. 5: 8. 
of salvation. Jesus was the agent of salvation: i Tim. 2:5. 
"one mediator between God and men, himself 
man, Christ Jesus," "in whom we have our re- 
demption, the forgiveness of our sins." The coi. i:w. 
method by which saving grace was placed at the 
disposal of mankind was that "Christ died for 
our sins, according to the Scriptures." Christ's icor. i5:s. 
sacrifice created spiritual values, which, having 
no need of them himself, were available for the 
deficits of others. The method is further and 
more fully described as a substitution: "Him 
who knew no sin he made to be sin on our be- 
half; that we might become the righteousness 2Cor. B:2i. 
of God in him." There was an exchange of 
desserts; and God in not reckoning unto men 2Cor. 5:w. 
their trespasses could be just because Christ 
had taken the sinner's place, being himself 
treated as a sinner. Paul, once thought that 



PAUL THE PREACHER 83 

Christ was visited with a deserved curse in 
dying on a tree, but he now saw that thus Christ 
redeemed us from the curse of the law, having 
become a curse for us; for "cursed is every one 
who continueth not in all things that are written 

Gai. 3:io, 13. in the book of the law, to do them." 

The means for appropriating the wealth made 
available by the vicarious death of Christ was 
faith. In Paul's first reported missionary ser- 
mon this truth is plainly set forth: "Be it 
known unto you therefore, brethren, that 
through this man is proclaimed unto you re- 
mission of sins: and by him every one that 

Acts 13: 38, 39. believeth is justified from all things." The 
theme of the Epistle to Romans is: "But the 

Rom. 1:17. righteous shall live by faith." It is the uni- 
versally valid means of salvation; for the 
"Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the 
promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given 

Gai. 3:22. to them that believe." 

One of the chief conflicts of Paul's life and 
services to Christianity was to keep that doc- 
trine disengaged from entangling alliances with 
Mosaic ceremonies, which the Judaizers insisted 
upon as necessary to salvation. He felt bitterly 
towards those who would pervert the simple 
way of Christ: "I would that they that un- 

Gai. 5: 12. settle you would even go beyond circumcision." 

Acts i6: si. "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be 



84 PAUL THE PREACHER 

saved" was the sum of his counsel to those out- 
side the kingdom; and "by grace have ye been E P h. 2:8. 
saved through faith" was his explanation of 
the state of those who had been made alive in 
Christ Jesus. Salvation is complex in the sense 
that there are several aspects to the one fact, 
though the several elements do not exist sepa- Rom. 5:1. 
rately. One phase is justification, a judicial 
act of God by which he declares the sinner just 
and treats him as if he were righteous. Another 
phase is adoption, a word borrowed from Roman 
usage, which is a paternal act by which one 
already a child is given his rightful position Gai. 4:6-7. 
in the divine family. Salvation also includes 
righteousness. This is a characteristic Pauline 
term, and is large enough to embrace the ideas 
both of regeneration — a new creation — and Gai. 6: 15. 
forgiveness. "The view now generally held," 
says Dr. Garvie, "is that the righteousness of 
God is the state of pardon and acceptance be- 
fore God, which is the gift of God's grace and is 
welcomed by man's faith, and which has been 
provided by God for mankind in the work of 
Christ." 

3. Salvation has two sides. One is to be 
saved from the condemnation of sin, and the 
other to be saved from the dominion of sin in 
the life. The latter is sanctiflcation, which is iThe«s. 4:3. 
the will of God for men. It is a gradual attain- 



PAUL THE PREACHER 85 

merit, the development of the germ of regenera- 

2 cor. 7:1. tion, a cleansing from all defilements of flesh 

and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 

1 cor. i:i8. It is a vital process actually achieving personal 

godliness, a " being saved" in the sense that 
more and more of the personality is being re- 
claimed from the power of sin, that the soul may 
at last appear without spot or wrinkle or 

E P h. 6: 17. blemish. It is the work of God by the Holy 
Spirit, using the word of God. "And the God 

iThess. 5:23. of peace himself sanctify you wholly" because 
he "chose you from the beginning unto salva- 

2 Thess. 2:13. tion in sanctification of the Spirit." The Gen- 
Rom, is.- 16. tiles were "being sanctified by the Holy 

Spirit," and "we all, with unveiled face be- 
holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are 
transformed into the same image from glory to 
2 cor. 3:i8. glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." Paul 
does not always distinguish clearly between the 
presence of Christ and the agency of the Spirit 
in moral transformation. When he is con- 
scious of an indwelling Person, it is Christ; 
when of a subtle working power not himself, it 
is the Spirit. The first work in the process of 
sanctification was negative: "the repudiation 
and expulsion of moral evil from the renewed 
life"; and this was to be followed by the posi- 
tive operation. The two phases of the one 
work are nearly always connected in the Scrip- 



86 PAUL THE PREACHER 

tures. "Put away ... the old man . . . and 

put on the new man that after God, hath been Eph.5:22,24. 

created in righteousness and holiness of truth," 

and "seeing that ye have put off the old man 

with his doings, and have put on the new man, 

that is being renewed unto knowledge after the 

image of him that created him." The apostle's col 3:9, 10. 

words show his eagerness for, and the process 

of, sanctification. He had not obtained, but 

he was striving strenuously to attain unto 

Christ-likeness. Phn. 3:i2-i4.B 

4. Saved and sanctified character must issue 
in Christ-like relations to men. "We are so 
to appropriate Christ as to share his sentiments 
and aims and ideals and spirit." Men for 
whose sake Christ died and rose again should 
no longer live unto themselves; but bear one 2Cor. 5:15. 
another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
Christ. Christ's law of life was love issuing in Gai. 6:2. 
service, and "if any man have not the Spirit of 
Christ, he is none of his." Service to humanity Rom. 8:9. 
is, with proper motive, service to Christ. Paul 
was the commanding illustration of his own pre- 
cepts. He was glad to spend and be spent, and 2 cor. 12: 15. 
happy to be offered in the service and sacrifice phii. 2.17. 
of others. He sought not what people had, but 
them. Ordinary speech must have in view the 1 cor. 10: 24J 
moral and spiritual welfare of the hearers: 
"Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your 



PAUL THE PREACHER 87 

mouth, but such as is good for edifying, as the 
need may be." Words must impart grace for 
building up, and be suited to the personal needs 
of those who hear. The exhortation appears 
again: "Let your speech be always with grace, 
seasoned with salt." The quality of conversa- 
tion should be such as springs naturally from 
divine grace in the heart, and would thus, as 
salt, be wholesome and purifying to other lives. 
Forgiveness in spirit and practice must char- 
acterize the followers of the Christ: "Be ye 
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving 
each other, even as God also in Christ forgave 
you." The forgiven of the Lord must exercise 
that grace towards any against whom they have 
complaint as fully and freely as forgiveness was 
extended to them: "Even as the Lord forgave 
you, so also do ye." 

Paul quotes approvingly the words of Jesus: 
"It is more blessed to give than to receive," 
and liberal giving in a cheerful spirit is urged. 
He follows his brilliant analogical argument on 
the resurrection with an appeal for money: 
"Now concerning the collection for the saints, 
as I gave orders to the .churches of Galatia, so 
also do ye." Rich attainments in other re- 
spects should be complemented by abounding 
in this grace also; not that the recipients might 
be eased, and the givers distressed, but that 



88 PAUL THE PREACHER 

there might be equality; "for ye know the 2Cor.8:i3,i4 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he 
was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, 
that ye through his poverty might become 2Cor. 8:9. 
rich," and liberality in carnal things is an ex- 
pression of gratitude for God's unspeakable acor. 9.15. 
gift of Christ. 

Concessions should be made by those strong 
in knowledge to those whose consciences are 
weak: "Now we that are strong ought to bear 
the infirmities of the weak, and not to please 
ourselves. Let each one of us please his neigh- 
bor for that which is good, unto edifying. For 
Christ also pleased not himself." It is true 
that each one shall give account only of himself Rom. 15 : 1-3. 
unto God, but liberties ought to be surrendered; 
"for if because of meat thy brother is grieved, 

. Rom. 14:12, 

thou walkest no longer in love." One with the 15. 
self-denying spirit of Christ will say: "Where- 
fore if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I 
will eat no flesh for evermore." The situation icor. 8:13. 
with which the apostle was dealing was local 
and temporary in nature, but the principle on 
which his counsel was based is general and 
valid for all times. 

Altruism is to be exalted above egoism: "Let 
no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's icor. 10:24. 
good"; "for he that herein serveth Christ is 
well-pleasing to God, and approved of men." 



PAUL THE PREACHER 89 

It is noteworthy that Paul derives sanction for 
nearly all the main duties of Christians to others 
from the example of Christ. Thus in urging 
the spirit of humility, he illustrates it by the 
sublimest fact on record, the renunciation and 
humiliation of Christ himself: "Have this 
mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
who, existing in the form of God, counted not 
the being on an equality with God a thing to be 
grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form 
of a servant; . . . he humbled himself, becoming 
obedient unto death, yea, the death of the 
cross." So having the Spirit of Christ within 
them and the example of Christ before them, 
logically both the disposition and the activities 
of Christ would be repeated. 

5. A final aspect of Paul's message has to do 
w T ith what lies beyond the present life. The 
thought of death was unpleasant to the coura- 
geous apostle naturally, but it was the universal 
lot of man, and he rested confidently in the 
Christian's hope. It is fairly certain that he 
did not believe in an intermediate state between 
death and the general resurrection. To be 
absent from the body was to be at home with 
the Lord, and to depart was to be with Christ. 
There is no room in these clear statements for 
an indefinite period of semi-unconsciousness or 
nebulous spiritual condition. He thought of 



90 PAUL THE PREACHER 

his freed spirit as at once being ushered into the 
presence of his Saviour, which was far better. 
Paul was sure of due recognition and reward 
when he should have "crossed the bar." Un- 
shadowed confidence is mingled with the sub- 
duing pathos of his swan-song: "I have fought 
the good fight, I have finished the course, I have 
kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for 
me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous judge, shall give to me at that 2 Tim. 4:7. 
day." The apostle had often seen awarded to 
the successful competitor in the Greek national 
games a victor's garland, and saw in that earthy 
fact a heavenly truth — his own reward in 
nobler kind. "Now they do it to receive a cor- 
ruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." The 1 cor. 9: 25. 
reward is in recognition of victory won over sin, 
which is righteousness: a righteousness on one 
hand bestowed through Christ, and on the other 
hand acquired by the inward operations of the 
divine Spirit. And that unfading crown was 
not for him only, but for all them that have 
loved Christ's appearing. 

Paul was assured of the resurrection of the 
body after the fashion of Christ's resurrection. 
His vigorous and confident assertions to those 
who questioned the fact or were puzzled as to 
the manner, reveal his own faith. "But now 
hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first- 



1 Cor. 15:20, 23. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 91 

fruits of them that are asleep," or, as more fully 
stated: "But each in his own order: Christ the 
first-fruits; then they that are Christ's at his 
coming." Identity will be preserved. There 
will be continuity in spite of the transformation; 
for "we shall be changed. For this corruptible 
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must 
l cor. is: 52, 53. put on immortality." Change he recognizes 
icor. 15:38. by his illustration: "God giveth it a body even 
as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its 
own," but this is not inconsistent with sub- 
stantial identity. As Paul thought of his ap- 
proaching disembodiment, he longed for incar- 
nation in that nobler habitation for his spirit: 
"For we know tha if the earthly house of our 
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building 
1 cor. 5: i. from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, 
in the heavens." The building from God here 
spoken of clearly means the glorified unchanging 
resurrection body in contrast to the unenduring 
natural body in which for the present his spirit 
was housed. We do not need the eloquent 
passage to assure us that heaven was to Paul a 
place. Where Christ had gone in his glorified 
state was heaven to his great apostle, and there 
he would find fulness of joy for evermore. 



92 PAUL THE PREACHER 

II. 

Having a sure message, the next important 
matter is so to deliver it that it shall not fail of 
its purpose. Paul's characteristics in this re- 
gard are outstanding; and his written as well 
as his spoken words illustrate his^spirit. There 
is both reason and scholarly authority for re- 
garding his Epistles as sermons to be read. 

I. Paul was exceedingly tactful and courte- 
ous in presenting his message. These two 
qualities have enough elements common to be 
considered together. One sees in his manner 
not only the flexibility of his mind, but also the 
graciousness of his heart. He varies his salu- 
tations to conform to local customs. Jews and 
their sympathizers are saluted as "Men of 
Israel, and ye that fear God"; the pagans of Actsis:i6. 
Lystra as "Sirs"; and the Athenians in true Acts n\ 22. 
classical style as "Ye men of Athens," which 
from time immemorial had been the formula in 
use by Athenian orators. The Jews who would 
destroy him without mercy are saluted as 
"Brethren and fathers," and Paul was generous Acts 22:1. 
enough to recognize that their anger against 
him was prompted by religious sincerity: 
"Being zealous for God, even as ye all are this Acts 22: 3. 
day." As he proceeds in the address, he 
weaves in the information that Ananias who at 



PAUL THE PREACHER 93 

the beginning had been his patron, was a "de- 
vout man according to the law, well reported 
of by all the Jews that dwelt" at Damascus. 
At Athens he perceives that his hearers are a 
very religious people, at the proper moment 
sustains his position by quoting one of their 
poets, and throughout his speech reasons in a 
manner congenial to the Greek intellect. 

Paul was full of generous sentiments, and 
had a talent for dispensing praise when deserved. 
A fresh glance over his Epistles shows that in 
nearly every instance he first expresses cordial 
appreciation of all worthy characteristics. He 
must say some severe things to the Corinthian 
church, but he first thanks God for their en- 
richment in grace, utterance, knowledge, and 
gifts. In those several letters where he does 
not bestow a compliment, either conditions 
plainly did not justify it, or, as with the pastoral 
letters, there was no need of formalities. 

In no instance does Paul's native courtesy 
show to better advantage than in his appear- 
ance before Agrippa. He abhorred the char- 
acter of the man; but he recognizes the official, 
and his deportment is dignified and courtly. 
Crediting the king with expertness "in all cus- 
toms and questions which are among the Jews," 
Paul counts himself fortunate to make his de- 
fence before a capable judge. There is win- 



94 PAUL THE PREACHER 

someness In the spirit and in the tone of the 
speaker's voice. It is clear that the apostle's 
tact and courtesy never deserted him unless the 
stern resentment of ill use before the Council Acts23:s-8. 
be an exception. It is hard to see that courtesy- 
was in order there. 

Paul was a man of spirit, and restraint under 
intolerable circumstances is neither possible 
nor desirable. No more perfect a gentleman 
has ever adorned Christianity than the great 
apostle. His was a patrician nature that re- 
vealed itself in manner and becoming conduct 
on every occasion. There was with him always 
a fine considerateness for other people, and this 
is the very soul of courtesy, the flower of good 
breeding; and we rise to a noble level of spirit 
as we contemplate the qualities of this true 
Christian gentleman. 

2. Paul was faithful in delivering his message. 
He was a steward of the mysteries of God, and 
"it is required in stewards, that a man be found 
faithful." He had been long enough in the 1Cor# 4:2 . 
field for his fidelity in this regard to be tested, 
when he declared: "I was not disobedient unto 
the heavenly vision : but declared both to them 
of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and 
throughout all the country of Judea, and also 
to the Gentiles, that they should repent and 
turn to God." His testimony had been both 



PAUL THE PREACHER 95 

to small and great. The records fully corrob- 
orate this account of his stewardship. Most 
diligent employment of time made possible such 
a report. But there is another aspect to the 
quality of fidelity. Paul had not only carried 
the message widely, but had also delivered it in 
its wholeness. The spirit of his ministry is set 
forth in his words to the elders of Ephesus: "I 
shrank not from declaring unto you the whole 
counsel of God." He did not pare off the 
severe phases of the message. He did not water 
to weakness the heroic medicine of the gospel. 
It is not in evidence that Paul ever modified 
or qualified the facts and requirements of the 
truth. The Jews were pointed beyond the law 
to Christ as their only hope, and he shocked their 
complacency by classing them with the Gentiles 
in moral failures, and in the method of salva- 
tion, and faithfully warned them of the danger 
of rejecting the truth. Dignitaries neither 
abashed nor daunted him. Rather was he dili- 
gent to redeem the opportunity their presence 
presented. Neither fear nor hope of favor 
constrained Paul to blunt the edge of the 
weapon he was given to wield. So pointedly 
did he reason of "righteousness, and self- 
control, and the judgment to come," that Felix 
was terrified; and though the apostle's words 
to Agrippa were complimentary, the king 



96 PAUL THE PREACHER 

saw that they were aimed at making him a 
Christian. 

Never to compromise the truth under any 
circumstances required courage, but Paul was 
one who never feared the face of man where the 
right was involved. He was animated by a 
great purpose to fulfil his commission, to open 
people's eyes, turn their hearts from darkness to 
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, 
that they might receive remission of sins and 
an inheritance among them that were sanctified 
by faith in Christ; and thus actuated he shrank 
not from declaring anything that was profitable, 
publicly and from house to house, to Jews and 
Gentiles, night and day. 



Acts 26: 28. 



Acts 26: 18. 



Acts 20: 20, 31. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
PAUL'S FIELDS OF LABOR. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The sphere of Paul's ministry was of course 
determined in a general way by his commission 
as given first through Ananias in Damascus, 
repeated by Jesus in the temple, and started into 
execution by command from the Holy Spirit in 
Syrian Antioch; but inside of that broad de- 
limitation, there were reasons for his choosing 
particular localities, for remaining in them a 
longer or shorter time, and for changing to 
other places. 

I. 

I. In the first stage of his ministry, before 
Acts 9: 20, 29. he had found the open road, Paul struck in 
where he happened to be, as at Damascus and 
Jerusalem; but more definite considerations 
governed him after that period. In some 
cases his choice was based on direct personal 
appeal. Barnabas, a wise and spiritually- 
minded man, discovering a unique situation at 
Acts ii: 25, 26. Syrian Antioch, "went forth to Tarsus to seek 
for Saul; and when he had found him, he 
brought him unto Antioch." Barnabas was 
indeed the ambassador of Christ, though an un- 

.99 



ioo PAUL THE PREACHER 

official one, in that mission; but to draw with 
the cords of a man and the bands of love is the 
Lord's method, and Paul interpreted the appeal 
as the will of God. The clearness and simplicity 
of the incident make it instructive. It should 
be of much practical value to remember that the 
immediate cause of Paul's going to the great 
strategic center of Syria was the influence of a 
trusted friend. 

On his second missionary journey, Paul was 
"forbidden of the Holy Spirit to speak the word A ct» w: 6, 7. 
in Asia" and also Bithynia; but he was de- 
barred from those regions, that he might be 
turned to Troas, where "a vision appeared to 
Paul in the night: There was a man of Mace- 
donia standing, beseeching him, and saying, 
" Come over into Macedonia, and help us." This Actg i6: 9 . 
case is not quite so clear as the one noted above, 
but having elements in common, the two are 
classed under one head. We are not required 
to identify the man of Macedonia, or to say 
whether he was natural or supernatural. The 
point is, that after reflection upon the words 
of another, Paul concluded that God had called 
him to preach the gospel in Europe. Actg 16: 10 . 

2. Acting for most part on his own en- 
lightened judgment in the choice of fields, Paul 
selected the cities for his main operations. 
This, on one hand, satisfied the ambition of his 



PAUL THE PREACHER 101 

strongly independent character to do pioneer 
work, so as "not to glory in another's province 
in regard of things ready to our hand," but 
"making it my aim so to preach the gospel, not 
where Christ was already named, that I might 
not build upon another man's foundation." 
And in view of his energy, courage, and clear 
vision of the gospel's independence of tradition 
and Jewish ceremonies, working on new ground 
was expedient as well as personally satisfying 
to the apostle. The probability of friction was 
lessened. And, on the other hand, choosing the 
great centers enabled Paul to exert the largest 
influence in a given period. 

On the personal side his life and training 
qualified him for more efficient service in the 
cities. And conditions obtaining there created 
greater opportunities. In the first place he 
could reach more people by direct public appeal, 
and those reached would scatter the word to 
other regions, as did the multitudes returning 
to their homes after the day of Pentecost. For 
example, truth sown upon the changing cur- 
rents of life in Corinth was not only salt to 
local corruption, but through the city's com- 
mercial connections was borne far and wide, 
east and west. And, then, in the great cities 
large colonies of Jews were found. It was 
reasonable to expect that they, whose had been 



io2 PAUL THE PREACHER 

the preparation, would more readily embrace 
the gospel, and thereafter be his true yoke- 
fellows in the arduous work of disseminating 
the truth. Both for their sake and the gospel's 
Paul proclaimed first in every place to Jews 
and others that feared God the fulfilment in 
Jesus Christ "of the promise made unto the Acts 13:32. 
fathers," and "in a great many instances the 
Jews of the Dispersion were the nucleus of 
the churches outside of Palestine." 

The influential men of the day were in the 
cities. Dr. Maurice Jones notes that Paul was 
anxious to present the gospel to the great men 
of the world. In Cyprus he eagerly embraced 
the opportunity to preach earnestly to the pro- Actsi3:7. 
consul, Sergius Paulus. In the riot in Ephesus 
it developed that certain Asiarchs, men of Acts 19: 31. 
importance, were his friends. Erastus was 
treasurer of Corinth, and Gaius evidently a man Rom. 16:23. 
of consequence. In Csesarea Paul found oppor- 26:1# 
tunity to preach to Felix, Festus, and Herod 
Agrippa. His first care in Rome was to call Acts 28: 17. 
"together the chief of the Jews." The wise, 
the mighty, and the noble might not be effectu- 
ally called in great numbers; but as he had 
opportunity, Paul urged upon them the claims 
of the gospel, and his efforts were by no means 
fruitless. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 103 

II. 

The apparent reason for Paul's remaining in 
selected localities for a longer or shorter period 
was success or prospects of success. In spite 
of the alienation of the Jews, he tarried at 
Antioch of Pisidia until the "word of the Lord 
was spread abroad throughout all the region." 
At Iconium a great multitude both of Jews and 
Greeks believed. "Long time therefore they 
tarried there speaking boldly in the Lord, who 
bare witness unto the word of his grace." At 
Corinth, in addition to success already achieved, 
the Lord promised Paul other victories. So 
"he dwelt there a year and six months, teaching 
the word of God among them." On his first 
visit to Ephesus the apostle was unable to abide 
long, but on his return his ministry "continued 
for the space of two years; so that all they that 
dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both 
Jews and Greeks." Like all earnest preachers, 
Paul wanted results, and while the harvest 
yielded to his hand, he did not grow weary in 
well-doing. Argument from silence is unsafe, 
but, while the work prospered or the worker was 
unmolested, it seems that his staying was not 
dependent upon special manifestations or com- 
mands of the Lord. Paul loved to plant, but 
also to nurture the new life into vigorous growth. 



io 4 PAUL THE PREACHER 

He was primarily an evangelist, but where con- 
ditions allowed he sought, by remaining or re- 
turning, to establish the converts in the faith. 

III. 

I. Paul frequently changed his field of labor, 
but the sheer novelty of the experience was not 
his motive. The chief cause of his removals 
was the activity of enemies. From his first 
attempts to preach in Damascus till after the 
silversmith's riot in Ephesus, this cause was 
operative. Its first form was usually opposi- 
tion to his message on the part of the Jews. 
This was not sufficient to drive Paul from the 
vicinity, but he sought a different audience in 
the same city or community. His pulpit was 
transferred from the synagogue to some public 
or private place. " Seeing ye thrust it from you, 
and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, Acts is : 46. 
lo, we turn to the Gentiles," he said to the 
jealous Jews at Pisidian Antioch; and to a 
crowd similarly disposed in Corinth, "From Actsi8:6. 
henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles," and at 
Ephesus "when some were hardened and dis- 
obedient, speaking evil of the Way before the 
multitude, he departed from them," going into Acta w: 9. 
the school of Tyrannus. 

Opposition to the character of the message 
soon developed into hostility to Paul himself. 



PAUL THE PREACHER 105 

Unable to stand against him in the arena of 
intellectual combat, his enemies resorted to 
physical weapons. At Antioch and Iconium 
Acta is:60. the Jews secured the aid of the civil authorities, 
Acts 17] s! and made similar efforts at Thessalonica and 
Corinth. At Lystra and Bercea the towns- 
Acts u: 19. people were won over and used as tools by the 
Acts w! 19! implacable Jews. At Philippi his persecutors 
were the masters of the fortune-telling girl, and 
Act* 19: 23-29. at Ephesus the silversmith Demetrius and 
craftsmen of like occupation, exciting the multi- 
tudes. Paul was courageous, but not reckless. 
He knew when he was not wanted. 

2. But not all Paul's changes were forced. 
In general he was an itinerant. God was mak- 
ing manifest through him the savor of divine 
knowledge in every place, and there was much 
land to be possessed in the name of the King. 
Some of his significant movements were en- 
tirely voluntary. The attitude of Gallio at 
Corinth, for example, recognized Paul's right 
Acts is: 15, 16. to preach the gospel under the Roman law. 
"And Paul, having tarried after this many days, 
Acts is: is. took his leave of the brethren." And on his 
first visit to Ephesus, the Jews themselves de- 
Acts 18:20. sired "him to abide a longer time," but con- 
senting not he set sail for Caesarea. On his 
third journey he moved freely through Mace- 
Acts 20:2, 6. donia, and at Troas "tarried seven days." He 



106 PAUL THE PREACHER 

would not spend more time in Asia, because he 

felt it to be his duty to arrive "at Jerusalem the Acta20:i6. 

day of Pentecost," and from this he would not 

be detained even by the tender and tearful 

affection of the elders of the Ephesian church. Acta 20:37. 

It is often a preacher's duty to change his field, 

even when the work in hand is prospering and 

the people desire him to remain. The supreme 

motive of the Apostle to the Gentiles in choosing, 

changing from, or remaining in certain localities 

was to be well-pleasing to God whose he was 

and whom he diligently served. 



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